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There’s something so thrilling about making a perfectly traditional-looking vegan pie. Most of us came to a plant-based diet after years (or a lifetime) consuming meat and dairy, and getting that balance of plant ingredients to behave like the food chemistry of your memories is incredibly satisfying. I brought this pie to my parents’ holiday party this year, and my dad said it was the best pecan pie he’d ever had! See how your family reacts – let’s win some hearts with this one.

-Preheat the oven to 375° F.-In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and coconut oil (or coconut oil + butter/margarine) with a pastry knife. Once the dough pieces are roughly the size of lentils, begin adding ice water a teaspoon at a time, mixing until the dough sticks together, but before it’s sticky to handle. I usually end up using ~ ¼ C. total.-Place dough on a floured piece of wax paper that is twice as long as it is wide. Flour the top, press down and roll between the wax paper until crust is thin and round. Cool in refrigerator while preparing the filling.-Combine the dates, nut milk, vinegar, salt and vanilla in an immersion blender or food processor and process until smooth.-Transfer date mixture to a stand mixer and add the brown sugar, coconut oil and butter (room temperature or melted). Combine, adding the flour one tablespoon at a time until smooth.-Chop the pecans and fold into the filling.-Remove crust from the refrigerator and form into the 9” pie pan of your choice. Pour in filling and decorate top with whole pecan halves.-Place in the oven and bake for 45-60min or until the center of the pie only jiggles slightly when gently shaken. Remove from the oven and let cool for ~2 hours before serving.

This holiday season, I wanted to try my hand at something a bit more "outside of the box" as far as desserts go, and started brainstorming something featuring the flavors of a cloved orange. Meghan suggested baby Bundts and I knew it would be a perfect fit. Add some delicious orange liqueur to the mix and your office party will be hopping in no time!

-Preheat oven to 350°F.-Coat the inside of a large Bundt pan or 1-2 baby Bundt forms with warm or melted coconut oil, then dust with flour.-Finely chop the pecans, then combine with the dry ingredients (minus the sugar) in a bowl and set aside.-In a stand mixer, combine coconut oil, butter and sugar for 3-4 min or until fluffy. Add flax gel ~3 T. (the size of a large egg) at a time, beating well after each.-Add the orange juice and combine.-Combine the nut milk and vinegar in a measuring cup.-Add 1/3 of the mixed dry ingredients to the mixer and combine, then add ½ of the buttermilk and combine. Repeat this step again, then end with the final third of the dry ingredients. Be careful not to overmix or the batter will have trouble rising.-Pour into the prepared Bundt pan or forms and bake 40-60min or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes away clean; the smaller Bundt forms will take less time than a full Bundt pan, so plan your bake times accordingly.-Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan or forms for ~30 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to finish cooling.-Combine the orange juice and liqueur in a bowl, then whisk in the powdered sugar in ¼ C. increments. Add up to an additional ¼ C. if the glaze is too thin.-Once the cake or cakes are almost fully cooled, transfer to a lipped plate and drizzle evenly with the glaze. More chopped pecans can be sprinkled over the glaze, or the cake/cakes can be topped with candied orange peel. For a more “adult” cake, place on a plate with a deeper lip and soak the base of the cake with an additional ¼-½ C. liqueur before glazing.

-Preheat oven to 425° F.-Combine the dates, ¼ C. bourbon and ¼ C. water in a food processor or hand mixer container.-In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and coconut oil (or coconut oil + butter/margarine) with a pastry knife. Once the dough pieces are roughly the size of lentils, begin adding ice water a teaspoon at a time, mixing until the dough sticks together, but before it’s sticky to handle. I usually end up using ~ ¼ C. total.-Place dough on a floured piece of wax paper that is twice as long as it is wide. Flour the top, press down and roll between the wax paper until crust is thin and round. Cool in refrigerator while preparing the filling.-Pulse the dates and liquid with the food processor or immersion blender until smooth.-Combine sugar, cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg, salt and pumpkin in a stand mixer.-Whisk the teaspoon of starch into the coconut milk, then add the date mixture and coconut milk to the stand mixer and combine.-Remove crust from the refrigerator and form into the 9” pie pan of your choice. Pour in filling and place in oven.-Bake at 425° F oven for 15 minutes, then reduce to 350° F for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours before serving.

Snowy winter mornings are the perfect time for some easy vegan French toast! I’ve been trying to put together a foolproof, simple recipe for some time now, and hopefully this one becomes as indispensable for you as it has become for me.

-Whisk together milk, vinegar, nutritional yeast, salt, vanilla, cinnamon and flour/starch in a wide bowl or deep-lipped plate until there are no visible lumps.-Heat a large skillet or frying pan on medium-high heat. When warm, add 1-2 T. butter and melt.-Soak each slice of bread on one side, then the other, then gently add to the hot buttered pan.-Fry on each side for roughly 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan, add butter and maple syrup, and serve.

This recipe was a long time coming... We'd been missing omelette breakfasts for years and I had struck out with previous iterations of this general idea, but with a bit more vegan cooking technique under my belt, I finally feel like this recipe is ready to be shared. A little finesse is needed to keep these omelettes from breaking when it comes time to fold them over, so this may be a “practice before the party” sort of thing. This is a more advanced recipe than usual strictly due to the fragility of the omelette during cooking, but don't let that deter you - soon, your vegan brunch game will be second to none!

*note, these were the fillings I used for this post, but you can fill yours with whatever you’d like. Sautéed mushrooms, bell peppers, sundried tomato, fresh basil, coconut bacon – there are tons of possibilities.

-If making caramelized onions, start them first; slice an onion into thin strips and place in a pan with 1-2 T. oil (olive or avocado, preferably) and cook on medium to medium-high, stirring often. Be careful the heat isn’t too high, as you can burn your onions before they begin to caramelize.-If you don’t have cashew cream ready, follow the directions at the link above to make a batch; you will only need a ½ C. so you can freeze the rest for later (or have vegan alfredo for dinner tonight).-Add silken tofu, cashew cream, nutritional yeast, flour, starch and turmeric to a food processor and combine.-Add salt and pepper to taste, combine, taste again and repeat as needed.-Add the kala namak and combine; make sure you don’t overdo it with this ingredient, which gives a sulfurous, eggy flavor to the mixture. A little goes a long way.-Heat 2 T. oil on medium-high in a nonstick pan at least 8” in diameter. If you'd like, you can use the same pan used for the caramelized onions.-Scoop just enough of the tofu mixture into the pan so there is a thin layer on the base of the pan. Smooth out with a spatula or spoon so that the mixture is even and not too thick; too much and the inside of your omelette will be runny and folding will be very difficult.-Cook for 2-3min, scraping edging gently so they don’t stick to the pan. Air pockets should form and be deflated gently as the mixture cooks, and the omelette will look similar to how pancakes cook. Check under the edges to make sure you’re not burning and adjust cook temperature accordingly.-When the omelette has become a darker color on top and appears sturdy when a spatula is gently inserted under one side, add your filling, cheeses first, and fold (again, gently) over. Remove from heat and let the cheeses melt and spinach wilt for a few moments, then transfer to a plate and repeat as necessary.-If you don’t use all of the tofu mixture immediately, it can be refrigerated for a day and cooked as your next breakfast, though it seems to begin separating after that, and freezing would damage the emulsion.

It's mid-March, and of course the last of the winter snow has arrived. It's the perfect day (or evening) to make this flavorful vegan soup to warm you up and keep away any remaining cold weather blues. Packed with fresh turmeric and ginger, and paired with the refreshing snap and taste of bok choy, this is our household's go-to when the sniffles and aches start, and is one of the most no-fail recipes I have. Enjoy, and think spring thoughts!

-Heat a stockpot on the stove on medium and add the coconut oil.-Chop and add the onions to the pot.-Chop and add the mushrooms; cook until the onions are translucent (4-6min).-Add the sea salt and ground pepper and stir.-Add the veg stock and water, and increase the heat to medium-high.-In a separate pot, bring water to a boil and cook the udon noodles.-Remove the skin from the turmeric and ginger, and chop the ginger.-Add the ginger, then grate the turmeric into the pot.-Chop the bok choy, leaving greenery intact where possible.-Add the bok choy and liquid aminos to the pot and let soup come to a low boil for a minute before removing from heat.-When udon is ready, strain off the water and add noodles to the soup. -Add the coconut milk and stir. Taste to see if the broth needs more salt or pepper and adjust to your preference.-Ladle soup into bowls, garnish with lime wedges and shake shichimi on top to taste. Squeeze lime juice over the soup before eating.

Right off the bat, I have to admit this isn't my recipe; I'm still a vampire and incapable of consuming garlic myself, but my wife Meghan loves the stuff, and apparently so do our friends - we made this recipe for a number of holiday parties this winter, and the guests went nuts for it! They enjoyed it so much that they've been asking for the recipe ever since... To that end, I put to paper (or rather website) Meghan's ingredients and method so that we could share this crowd-pleaser of an appetizer. Enjoy!

-Soften butter in a medium-sized bowl, either by letting it warm while making the cashew cream, or by microwaving it for 15-20 sec.-Follow the directions to make the cashew cream, set aside.-Preheat oven to 350 F.-Add all ingredients to the butter, including the ⅓ C. cashew cream, and combine with a whisk or spatula.-Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the bread horizontally the whole way through, making 2 equal halves. Line up both halves cut side up on a cutting board and score deeply as if into equal pieces, but leaving ~½ in. uncut. -Spread the garlic sauce equally on both sections of bread, making sure to get sauce into the scores.-Reassemble loaf; if using a boule/round loaf, make one complete cut down the middle.-Wrap loaf fully in aluminum foil and bake for 5-10 min, or until the parm shreds have melted and the inner slices are hot.-Remove from oven, plate and serve!

Things were quiet on S+S for most of last year, with Meghan and I shooting weddings, solo guitar gigs for me, and a lot of general life eating into recipe time outside of work hours. One free night last summer, I came home late to an amazing quesadilla made by Meghan, and I was able to get a recipe annotated recently while she rushed around the kitchen making them for us. I can't take credit for any of this deliciousness except for helping make it disappear whenever Meghan cooks them!

-Melt the butter in a large skillet on medium heat.-Drain jackfruit in a colander.-Chop onion and green chili.-Add onions to the butter in the skillet and sauté until translucent, 3-5min.-Add jackfruit and chili to skillet and toss to coat with onions and butter.-Stir continuously as you add the cumin, onion powder, paprika, liquid smoke, and ½ C. veg stock. Cook for ~5 min.-Add nutritional yeast and turn heat to high. -Add apple cider vinegar and liquid aminos, stirring continuously as liquid is absorbed and cooks off. Add more veg stock and nutritional yeast 1 T. at a time as jackfruit cooks.-Using a wooden spoon or firm spatula, begin pulling apart the jackfruit. It should be getting tender at this point and fall apart easily.-Once the jackfruit is mostly shredded, the majority of the liquid should be cooked off, and the jackfruit should be very tender and resemble pulled chicken.-Remove skillet from heat, then put a large, clean pan or skillet on the heat (medium-high) and add veg oil.-Spread a bit of mayo on one side of each tortilla, then place one mayo side up in the oil. Spread enough of the jackfruit to evenly cover the tortilla, sprinkle some cheese shreds on it, and place a second tortilla mayo side down on top.-Fry for ~1min on each side, or until lightly browned, flipping to brown top and bottom. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and jackfruit.